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User blog:Wilhelm Oxclade/Aural Aether
The Aural Aether (AA) is an infinitely divisible substance capable of conveying all frequencies of sound at equal amplitude regardless of distance; and does so infinitely quickly. In Platonic terms, the aural aether is an idealized gaseous sound-medium. Idealized as such it may facilitate any imaginable (and infinite unimaginable) harmonies with perfect clarity and instant transmission. If the stars be music, then the transition between a muddled atmosphere obscuring our view to a pristine perspective in outer space is as the transition between ordinary air to facilitate music and the aural aether. In a realm composed solely of AA and an instrument of your choice there are an infinite number of musical pieces, many of whose scope and complexity would sadly be lost on the minds of mortal man. That is not needless condescension, but simple truth. We breathe and live our entire life in simple number ratios, and only hear the most simple note ratios as consonant (the 3:2 ratio of the fifth or 2:1 of the octave). While a minor second sounds terribly dissonant, it is but a different ratio, perceived by the mind as more less "harmonious". There is no consonance or dissonance however, only interaction. The interactions that are common to us we call "consonant" and the foreign interactions we call "dissonant". But they are one and the same for all practical purposes, and a measure of dissonance is just a measure of a piece's lack of consonance, and a measure of consonance is just a measure of a piece's lack of dissonance. The greatest of Earth's composers might struggle to maintain a paltry 11:19 polyrhythm with no practice - but why? 11 is such a small number and so is 19; they are dwarfed by such polyrhythms as 355:233 or 729:1024 - so why is 11:19 such a problem? It is because there is nothing but interaction in music, and the interactions most common to us are the simplest. Had you been inundated with 11:19 polyrhythmic music from birth and heard our music you may think our music to be utterly unlearnable, and vice versa. Familiarity is a large part of what makes music enjoyable. That is why by listening to music from all cultures you will not only learn to like that culture's music even more, but you will also learn to like music itself even more. Imagine if you will an infinite keyboard extending in both directions in a universe filled with AA - there are an infinite number of playable and unplayable pieces, the exceeding majority of which would need to be programmed in, as chords can have however many notes you want them to. But this is assuming a basic 12-note per octave set up. There is so much more to be explored. Listen to the primitive majesty and fury of an organ piece with 6-tones per octave: Soak in the beautiful microtones in this Turkish guitar piece: Now bask in 313-tone equal temperament: This is a taste of what could be done with aural aether. But in the aural aether you could do much more than this. With an infinite speed of sound echoes would not exist, and therefore you could play notes as quickly as you wanted with no blurring. Imagine a piece called Flight of the Crazed Wasp for a 3,000 instrument Ensemble! Yes, it may sound silly but such pieces would be a trifle compared to even greater pieces! ---- Clearly one could go on a bit about the many impossible things one could do in such a universe, but I think the concept of AA has been clearly explained. Any questions, comments, or propositions are welcome! Category:Blog posts